The Monster Under the Bed
by Pirateweasel
Summary: Feral found an unwanted memory fragment in her memory files. It's the monster under the bed. Part 11 of the 'Grid Myths and Stories' series. Takes place in Pre-Legacy AU.


A/N- Have you ever been afraid of the monster under the bed?

The Games had ended for now. The final champion competing in this interval, Feral had been victorious, of course. Watching her in the Games, a program could see that she lived up to her name. During the final match, the top five program combatants against Feral and two of the BlackGuard, the screaming crowd had watched as she first ran down and destroyed the other programs, derezzing them with brutal efficiency; and then shoved her disc into one of the BlackGuard when he tried to force her to move from where she stood, staring at the crumbling remains of her last opponent. Wisely, the remaining guard had simply left her alone to stand there. It had been several nanos after the second guard left before she left the arena; headed to the equipment storage areas under the main arena.

Usually, this would only take a short time as the winning program would clean themselves if they needed to; return any equipment not belonging personally to the winner, and activate any self-repair functions that would be needed. This time, however, Feral had not returned from the storage areas in the expected time frame. In fact, she had been absent for so long that her partner had begun to worry that she had been damaged somehow during the last match. With that thought in his processes, Rinzler went in search of her.

It did not take long to locate Feral; she was not trying to mask her presence from him. When he found her, Feral was leaning against a wall; head bowed as she looked down at her hands with a blank expression on her face. He came to a halt just inside of the door, observing her for a few picocycles before speaking.

"You did not return after the last match," Rinzler said.

She shook her head without speaking or looking up at him.

"Were you damaged during one of the matches?" he asked.

"No," Feral said, her voice low. "I wasn't hurt."

They stood there silently for a few moments, and then Feral spoke again.

"Rinzler," she asked, "do you know the User saying 'the monster under the bed'?"

He shook his head as he answered, "No, I have never heard that saying. What does it mean?"

She gave a small sigh. "When Users are young, they sometimes say that there is a monster under their bed. The monster can be anything; however, it's always something that scares them. I guess, if programs had monsters under the bed, most of them would tell you that it was a virus or a gridbug…some piece of malware, maybe. I just…. They _looked_ at me during the match; and all I could think was, 'I've become the monster under their bed'….."

Feral was quiet for a moment, and then, looking up at her partner, asked another question, her voice tight as she spoke.

"You've been taking place in the Games for a lot longer than I have. Rinzler, with all of the combats you have been in, all of the programs that you have derezzed to win; have you ever enjoyed derezzing them?" There was an unspoken plea in her voice, as an emotion he could not identify colored the tone of the words.

The only sound in the room for several long moments was the security enforcer's barely audible growl as he ran the question through his parameters and functions before answering.

"No," Rinzler said. "At my most basic functions, I am security for the Grid and its programs. While I crave the challenge, the chance to test myself against someone or something else, the thrill that comes from beating my opponent; I have _NEVER_ enjoyed ending a program's runtime…even when it was needed to protect the Grid. _This is why we are not the monsters, Feral. We_ don't_ enjoy it._"

Come back to quarters with me, and we'll get some energy and relax. Try not to let these things bother you so much. You are only fulfilling your function; you are not a monster for doing so." Saying this he turned and began to walk through the door. Rinzler had only gone a few steps, yet it was just enough for him to be unable to the next words that Feral said.

"I _AM_ the monster under the bed, Rinzler," she whispered, "because—Grid help me—I enjoyed it…"

* * *

A/N-For some, the only thing more frightening than the monsters...is knowing that you are one.


End file.
